Cabinet Door Operated Faucet Valve

ABSTRACT

A manifold containing a set of hydraulically operated valves, interposed between a water supply line and an existing faucet and actuated by one or more pilot valves mounted on the sink cabinet door frame or in toe kick area of a cabinet, will provide instantaneous control of water flow from an existing sink faucet. The controlling pilot valves are easily mounted on the cabinet door frame or in the form of pressure sensitive valves mounted to the toe kick area of the cabinet. Slight knee pressure on the door or a gentle toe pressure on these controlling pilot valves opens the valves manifold and water flow through the faucet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to sink faucets and more specifically to an automatic valve control system for remotely activating a water faucet.

2. Description of Related Art

Remote and automatic control of a sink faucet goes back many years. In early years the use of photo cells and foot pedal were common and more recently the use of electronic proximity switches has become wide spread. The introduction of numerous electronic controlled faucets in recent years points to the need for a functionally multipurpose remote and automatic sink faucet control system. Besides the protection from transfer of bacteria and the convenience of hand free operation, the water saving potential and capability of a reliable, low maintenance, functional system will make such a device a necessity rather than a luxury.

Unfortunately the electronic and foot pedal variation of faucet control valves have demonstrated many limitations and shortfalls, making the need for a more practical and user friendly device for households even more apparent. The existing electronic version of the faucet control valve limits its use for simple hand washing applications. It's indiscriminate actuation by sensing an object makes this type of valve faucet useless for any other application that requires instantaneous on/off control of water flow. The uncontrolled and indiscriminate actuation by a proximity or motion sensing devices make simple tasks such as dish washing, clothes washing, or even sink washing a self defeating act. Other disadvantages of electronic faucets are the lack of control over the water flow and ability to override the system. In case of power failure, these units can only rely on limited storage capacity of the battery cells.

Furthermore, because the components of electronic faucets are interdependent and inseparable, they replace the existing faucet without making any use of it. Also because of extensive electronic circuitry and its related high cost, plus their functional limitation, the electronic faucets are most suitable only for newly built public hand washing facilities where high cost any limitations are not of any major concern.

Similarly, the floor mounted foot pedal is an obtrusive device, difficult to use and to install and requires extensive plumbing changes. The foot pedals bulky space-taking body makes floor cleaning difficult and becomes an obstacle to foot traffic. Its use by the elderly and some physically impaired individuals is also limited. Due to extensive plumbing changes and its related high cost, foot pedal sink faucet controls are only suitable for institutional use. The impracticality, inconvenience, difficulty of installation, and high cost of existing devices necessitates the need for a new device that is practical, responsive, easy to use, easy to install, and low cost.

To work in the consumer market an automatic faucet control system must be a retrofitted appliance sold as a kit to be installed, which uses the existing plumbing and fixtures, and is responsive to almost every demand that one may expect from a faucet. To accommodate the existing plumbing and accessories such as water filters, ice makers, and auxiliary water heaters, the system inlet ports must be numerous and strategically placed for all conceivable connecting situations. The low cost, user-friendliness, and ease of installation would play a crucial role in success of such a product. To be practical it should be possible for the consumer to override the automation easily and conveniently in case of failure, the consumer must be able to bypass the system with ease.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The instant invention fulfills the above stated needs by providing an after market retrofitted faucet control system which is mounted under the sink, on the wall, and directly under the existing faucet. The invention features two or more normally closed hydraulically operated valve input ports connected by way of two standard tubes to the water supply hot and cold valves. The valves output ports are then connected to the existing faucet and or a hand held sprayer. In addition to the main input and output ports, the manifold possesses two additional in and out ports by means of two flexible tubes connected to a pilot valve or valves mounted behind the cabinet doorframe or toe kick area of the cabinet. To activate the system a slight knee pressure on the cabinet doors or slight foot pressure on the pilot valve housing in the toe kick area of the cabinet, causes the normally closed pilot valve to open, in turn causing the hydraulically operated valves to open allowing water to flow freely to the valve block output ports and through the existing faucet as its setting permits. The instantaneous on-off control of water flow is accomplished by the normally closed push button pilot valves connected to the right, left, or both cabinet doorframes or in the toe kick area. The continuous water flow is accomplished by a push button latchable pilot valve connected to the right or left cabinet doorframe or in the toe kick area of the cabinet. To latch the pilot valve a slight knee pressure is applied to the left or right cabinet door. In latched mode, the hydraulically operated valve remains open indefinitely and the faucet works conventionally. The user can manipulate the water flow manually and conventionally or terminate the flow by applying a second knee pressure to the left cabinet door or by turning the faucet manually to the off position. It should be also recognized that the flexibility of this device also permits the use of other pilot valve mounting configurations and locations. To child proof the system all that is necessary is to close the sink faucet manually. In this case if a child exerts pressure on the cabinet door or toe kick valve, the valve block will open but the closed sink faucet restricts water flow.

The preceding Summary is intended to serve as a brief introduction to some embodiments of the invention. It is not meant to be an introduction or overview of all inventive subject matter disclosed in this document. The Detailed Description that follows and the Drawings (or “Figures” or “FIGs.”) that are referred to in the Detailed Description will further describe the embodiments described in the Summary as well as other embodiments. Accordingly, to understand all the embodiments described by this document, a full review of the Summary, Detailed Description and the Drawings is needed. Moreover, the claimed subject matter is not to be limited by the illustrative details in the Summary, Detailed Description and the Drawings, but rather is to be defined by the appended claims, because the claimed subject matter may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a prior art, hand or dishwasher sink cabinet, faucet, plumbing, and the sink shown with the cabinet door open;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the cabinet, faucet, plumbing, and the sink shown in FIG. 1 retrofitted with an automatic hydraulically operated faucet control system constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a front view, partially broken away, of the retrofitted faucet, showing the hydraulically controlled valves interposed between the main supply line and the sink faucet;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the sink cabinet of FIG. 2 indicating the position of the controlling pilot valves;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the hydraulically controlled valve manifold for controlling the faucet showing the approximate locations of diaphragm chamber and the check valves;

FIG. 6 is a cross section view taken through line 6-6 of FIG. 5 showing a dual diaphragm chamber assembly, having a single diaphragm chamber output port and its connection to the valve block 17;

FIG. 7 is a cross section view taken through line 7-7 of FIG. 5 showing a dual check valve assembly and its connection to the valve block 17;

FIG. 8 is a cross section view taken through line 8-8 of FIG. 5 showing the passage ways, ports, and the elements of solenoid valve block;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the retrofit sink cabinet shown in FIG. 2 having the cabinet doors open to show the approximate location of the pilot valves on the cabinet doorframe and kick valve in the toe kick area of the sink cabinet;

FIG. 10 is the faucet connection diagram for a retrofitted faucet, showing the hydraulically controlled valves interposed between the main supply line and the sink faucet, having a single pilot valve for controlling water flow; and

FIG. 11 is the faucet connection diagram for a retrofitted faucet, showing the hydraulically controlled valves interposed between the main supply line and the sink faucet, showing multiple pilot valves for controlling water flow.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to FIG. 1, a typical sink cabinet is shown in FIG. 1. Having bowl 1, faucet valve 2, 3 under the sink cabinet doors 4, 5, water supply valve gland nuts 6, 7, connecting tubes 8, 9 and upper door frame 10. In FIG. 1 it can be seen that, conventionally, the sink faucet valve 2, 3 are connected by means of tubes 8, 9 to the supply valve gland nuts 6, 7. FIG. 1 also shows the upper door frame 10 to which cabinet doors 4, 5 are rested upon while closed.

To install the present invention, the gland nuts 6, 7 are first removed as shown in FIG. 3. The valve body inlet ports 11, 12 are connected through supply tubes 15, 16 to the water supply valve gland nuts 6, 7. The faucet connecting tubes 8, 9 are then connected to the valve body outlet ports 13, 14 of valve manifold 17. The controlling pilot valve which take the form of latching pilot valve 21 and a momentarily pilot valve 22 are then fastened to the upper door frame 10 in the manner shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4. The pilot valves 21, 22 input ports are connected in parallel to valve manifold 17, chamber output port 32 (see FIG. 12) by means of tube 42. Similarly, pilot valves 21, 22 and output ports 41 are connected in parallel to valve manifold 17 and check valve input port 33 by means of connecting tube 43.

As shown in FIG. 4 the pilot valves 21, 22 are provided at the forward end of the cabinet, immediately adjacent to the cabinet doors. When pilot valves 21, 22 are in their closed inactivated position, they cause the associated cabinet doors to jut slightly outward (FIG. 4). By applying a gentle pressure with ones knee to the cabinet door the corresponding pilot valve will open. As shown in FIG. 2, 11 the pilot valves 21, 22 maybe replaced or be complemented by a toe pressure sensitive valve 52 that can be mounted on the exterior surface of the cabinet toe kick area.

In the embodiment, the controlling pilot valves 21, 22, and 52 shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 11 are normally closed push button valves which, the controlling valve 21 is a latching valve and the controlling valve 22 is a momentarily pilot valve. In the alternative embodiments of the invention, the opposite may be true, only one of the above type of valves may be used, or, which will become better understood below, one or more of these types of valves and a different type of valve maybe installed on a cabinet, giving the user more selectivity.

The controlling valves 21, 22 are preferably connected to a central portion of the inside upper door frame 10, inside of the cabinet. Although the controlling valves are shown near the center of the inside upper door frame, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that controlling valves 21, 22 may be positioned in other locations on the inside upper door frame 10 other then that shown and may be fastened to other elements of a cabinet other than that shown. For example, but not by way of limitation, the controlling valves 21, 22 may be connected to the inside of the cabinet floor immediately behind the cabinet doors not shown.

The valves 21, 22 should be located so that when a user applies a gentle pressure with his or her knee to the exterior surfaces of the cabinet doors, when the doors are substantially closed, this pressure will cause the corresponding normally closed valve 21, 22 to open. With reference to FIG. 2, in an alternative embodiment of the invention, a modified version of valves 21, 22 is shown as toe kick valve 52, that can replace or compliment valve 21, 22 on the door frame 10, to give the user more selectivity.

As it is shown in FIG. 6, 8, the water inlet port 11, 12 through passageways 27, 28 are in direct irrigational communication with diaphragm chambers 19, 20. As it can be seen in FIG. 6, the lower diaphragm chambers 27, 28, through the orifice 29 of diaphragm 50, 51 are in direct communication with upper diaphragm chamber 19, 20 and through passageways 30, 31 with diaphragm chamber output port 32. Also so as it can be seen in FIG. 6, in inactivated mode the fluid communication between passageways, 27, 28 and 23, 24 are blocked at points 56, 57 by the action of diaphragm 50, 51, preventing any fluid communication between valve block input port 11, 12 and output ports 13, 14.

In reference to FIG. 7, the dual check valve 35 input port 33, through passageway 44 is blocked by the action of spring loaded balls 36 and is denied free irrigational communication through passageways 45, 46 and 39, 34 and 23, 24 with the valve block 17 output port 13,14 (see FIG. 7). Similarly and inversely, any fluid communication between valve manifold output port 13, 14 and check valve input port 33 are blocked by the action of spring loaded balls 36 (see FIG. 7).

As it can be seen in exemplary circuit diagram 10, the diaphragm chamber output port 32 is connected by means tube 42 to pilot valve 21 input port 40. Similarly the pilot valve 21 output port 41 is connected by tube 43 to check valve 35 input port 33. In an inactivated mode, the diaphragm chamber output port 32, is blocked by the action of normally closed pilot valves 21, 22 FIG. 2, 10. Fluid pressure from inlet ports 11, 12 (see FIG. 6), flow through passageways 27, 28 and diaphragm orifice 29, pressurizing diaphragm chamber 19, 20. The pressurized fluid in the upper chamber 19, 20 forces down diaphragm 50, 51 against solenoid output port passageways 23, 24 at points 56, 57 denying free irrigational communications between valve block 17 inlet ports 11,12 and output ports 13, 14 (see FIG. 6).

To activate valve block 17 to water flow, pilot valve 21 or 22 FIG. 10 is opened to flow as it was explained previously. Once the valve 21 or 22 is opened, the diaphragm chambers 19, 20 are simultaneously depressurized. Greater fluid pressure in diaphragm lower chamber 27, 28 FIG. 6 forces the diaphragm 50, 51 upward causing simultaneous fluid communication between valve block 17 inlet ports 11, 12 and output ports 13, 14. Also, as it is shown in FIG. 10, once the pilot valves 21, 22 or 52 are opened as described previously the fluid discharge from diaphragm chambers 19, 20 is channeled through pilot valve output port 41 and through tube 43 to dual check valve input port 33 where it pushes one or both check valve balls 36 (see FIG. 7) open, discharging the water from diaphragm chamber 19, 20 into valve block 17 passageways 23, 24 and ultimately to the output ports 13,14 where it is discharged through the open faucet valves 2, 3 (see FIGS. 7,8 and 10).

Similarly, the needle valves 64, 65 and the controlling knobs 74, 75 of FIG. 8 control the manual operation of the invention. In the event of a malfunction or consumer desire/preference to operate faucet manually and conventionally, the needle valves 64, 65 through passageways 67, 68 allows free communication between inlet ports 11,12 and the output ports 13,14 of valve block 17. The needle valves function and its passageways between the inlet ports 11, 12 and outlet ports 13, 14 can be seen in FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 also shows two cylindrical cavities 61 sealed by a removable screw cap 60 each containing one piston 63 having o-ring 62 as a seal and being pushed forward against cap 60 by the action of the calibrated springs 70. This arrangement will provide a shock absorbing environment to minimize the hammering action and related noises that maybe generated by the sudden closing action of diaphragm 19, 20. The sudden shock caused by the closing action of diaphragm 19, 20 passes through passageways 69 and causes piston 63 to move against the force of springs 70 thus absorbing the shock and hammering effect of sudden closure.

As shown in FIG. 4 the pilot valves 21, 22 are provided at the forward end of the cabinet, immediately adjacent the cabinet doors. When pilot valves 21, 22 are in their closed inactivated position, they cause the associated cabinet doors to jut slightly outward (FIG. 4). By applying a gentle pressure with ones knee to the cabinet door the corresponding pilot valve will open. As shown in FIG. 2, 11 the pilot valves 21, 23 maybe replaced or be complemented by a toe pressure sensitive valve 52 that can be mounted on the exterior surface of the cabinet toe kick area. This advantageous embodiment immediately makes the user aware that the sink faucet is equipped with an automatic faucet valve system.

The illustrated embodiment is exemplary in nature and many of the details thereof could be modified without departure from the spirit and the scope of the present invention. For example, the internal configuration of the valve block can be changed. The general shape of the system could also be different. For example, two separate blocks verses one, each containing a hydraulically actuated valve and a diversionary valve. Style-wise, the inlet or output ports may be configured differently. To reduce consumer cost the shock-absorbing portion maybe simplified or eliminated. The essential elements of the invention are a dual hydraulically operated valve block with separate inlet-outlet ports and a manually operable diversionary valve to be operated by two or more pilot valves mounted on the cabinet door frame, cabinet inside floor or toe kick area and the retrofit nature of the design in which the valves are interposed between the existing faucet and fresh water supply valves. The arrangement of the present invention makes the automatic valve control system very advantageously easy to install, even by non-plumber consumer. Its simplicity and minimal parts make it inexpensive and its practicality and easy of operation will encourage its use. Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that other changes and modifications can be made to the invention within the scope of the appended claims. 

I claim:
 1. An automatic control system for a faucet of a sink comprising: a valve manifold adapted to be disposed beneath said sink, inside a cabinet frame having a pair hinged doors mounted thereon, said valve manifold having a plurality of supply inlet ports adapted to communicate with hot and cold water supply lines, a plurality of supply outlet ports adapted to communicate with hot and cold water faucet connecting lines for delivering hot and cold water to the faucet of said sink, and a pair of hydraulically actuated valves and a dual check valve connected in parallel for controlling the flow of water to said supply outlet ports, a first of said hydraulically actuated valves adapted to control hot water flow and a second of said hydraulically actuated valves adapted to control cold water flow where each of said hydraulically actuated valves adapted to communicate hydraulically with the inlet port of at least one normally closed pilot valve; at least one hydraulically actuated valve is adapted to selectively complete the communication between said valve and the normally closed pilot valve inlet port, whereby, upon completion of said communication, said valve manifold simultaneously opens to allow the flow of water to the faucet; at least one pilot valve including a latching valve that upon being activated the first time maintains completion of the communication between said valve and at least one hydraulically actuated valve; and a second pilot valve in connection with said valve manifold being a momentarily non-latching valve and being separate from said latching valve for separate activation, wherein: each of said doors are in communication with a respective one of said pilot valves, whereby either of said pilot valves is activated by applying pressure to an associated one of said doors; each of said pilot valve output ports adapted to communicate with the inlet port of a dual check valve adapted to allow water connection between pilot valve output ports and at least one valve manifold faucet output ports; and said valve manifold includes a diversionary valve adapted to allow water in said valve manifold to bypass at least one hydraulically actuate-able valve and flow to at least one of the hot or cold water faucet connecting lines.
 2. The automatic control system of claim 1, wherein said manifold valve includes a manually operable diversionary valve.
 3. The automatic control system of claim 1, wherein said manifold valve includes a dual check valve in communication with at least one valve manifold output port and a pilot valve output port.
 4. The automatic control system of claim 1, wherein: said valve manifold is adapted to be disposed beneath said sink inside a cabinet frame having a pair of hinged doors mounted thereon; at least one pilot valve adapted to be mounted to the cabinet frame; at least one of said doors including an internal surface facing the inside of the cabinet and adapted to contact at least one pilot valve when at least one door is substantially closed; and at least one pilot valve adapted to be activated by the internal surface of at least one door when pressure is applied to an external surface of at least one door.
 5. The automatic control system of claim 4, wherein at least one pilot valve includes a latching pilot valve that upon being activated the first time maintains completion of the communication of said fluid and said valve block until the pilot valve is reactivated.
 6. The automatic control system of claim 4, wherein at least one pilot valve includes a momentarily non-latching valve. 